Stein: Celtics Highly Interested in Trading For J.J. Redick

When you are dealing with two five-game losing streaks over a course of a month, and are still attempting to make one last gasp at a deep playoff run, trade season tends to gets going a little bit early. As currently composed, the C’s are a team that is struggling mightily yet again to put the ball in the basket first and foremost.

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are dealing with slight, but expected declines in their offensive games, and the team’s revamped supporting cast is failing to provide any consistent support, especially from the 3-point line, where the C’s now rank 27th (33%) in the NBA. With the season potentially starting to slip away, Marc Stein of ESPN.com informs us the Celtics are taking a hard look at probably the best shooter on the trade block.

Hearing Celts, even before season-worst 7-for-32 shooting from 15+ feet in NYK loss, have ramped up their interest in Magic’s J.J. Redick

The Celtics’ interest in Redick should come as no surprise. He’s having a career year shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 39.7 percent from downtown and posting a 14.7 points per game despite lacking a strong supporting cast in Orlando. He also is in the final year of his contract, making a reasonable $6.2 million. Of course the C’s would love to have him.

The bigger question remains though. Is there any possible way the C’s can trade for Redick, without having to give up their main “tradable” assets in Avery Bradley or Jared Sullinger?

The short answer is highly unlikely, unless the C’s are willing to take back some excess baggage from the Magic along with J.J or deal away their own draft picks, two things Danny Ainge has been very leery of doing in the past. The C’s situation right now is pretty dire though when it comes to trades. They are straddling a $74 million hard tax, making big deals challenging. All of their players that are struggling (Brandon Bass, Jeff Green, Jason Terry) are on varying levels of unattractive long-term deals for most other teams around the league.

Courtney Lee’s long-term deal is a bit more reasonable, but for a team like Orlando trying to rebuild, locking up Lee for $5 million+ for the next few years is not a sure investment, unless the C’s are willing to include a pick to sweeten the deal. Even that might not be enough for Orlando, who already has Arron Afflalo locked up long-term

In all likelihood the Magic are going to ask for Bradley in any deal for Redick and the C’s will say no, for understandable reasons. Danny could try to get creative and turn it into a multi-player deal, taking back some of Orlando’s excess contracts (Al Harrington, Hedo Turkoglu, :gulp: Glen Davis?!?) while dealing away some of his own, but that’s not an appealing option either. In all likelihood, depending on how strong the trade market is for Redick, Lee and a protected first round pick might be able to get it done but given how much the Celtics value their draft picks, that might be a tough deal to justify.

We’ll have plenty of more time to break down the possibilities in the coming weeks, but for now, the C’s really have no valuable trade chips outside of Sullinger, Bradley, Pierce (for a contender) and Rajon Rondo. If the C’s want to make a run at it this year, they won’t want to give up any of these pieces.

Finding an offer to satisfy a rebuilding and smart front office like Orlando’s will be a tall task and there’s no guarantee the C’s are willing to part with the necessary pieces to get it done. Hoping the C’s supporting cast is able to turn the corner and get back on track is probably the best (and smartest) thing Ainge can do for the time being. If the team drops any further below .500 though, it will become especially challenging to remain patient.

Hmm, Redick would definitely be a useful shooter off the bench, but…at what cost? Orlando is rebuilding and wants picks and/or promising young players on small contracts. Sullinger and Bradley are the only players that would I could see Orlando wanting, but no way would I trade either player for Redick.

IBleedGreen

If Bradley's offense is half as good as his defense I might consider keeping him. But he's a liability on the offensive end. Personally I'll be happy to see him go.

High Rollers

Back to the offensive woes. Remember at the beginning of the season when KG was using exquisite footwork to get easy, point-blank baskets? Yeah, we need more of that. Somebody remind him to get back to that, and tell him again that he's too old. Both of those things should do the trick.

Morpheus

Meh, a “Redick” ain’t going to fix this mess.

Morpheus

But obviously i'd rather have JJ over Terry for real. JET is a corpse out there, i hope Danny gets rid of him by the deadline.

Cam

Suns fan from VOTS. Would you as fans be interested in Gortat at the C spot and what do you think would be fair value for him. I'm of the opinion that Fab Melo, Terry, and a top 5 protected 2014/2015 1st would be fair, or maybe a little generous I suppose. I like Lee more than Terry but Terry has a shorter contract (which is in line with the cap flexibility the Suns want to keep), and it seems that people posting here are more fond of Lee too. Thus the low protection on the 1st. What say you?

FrenchJujubean

I say yea, let's do it, since you and I are both GMs of our team, imma give you a call tonight to get that deal done. Talk to you soon.

elroz

Terry, Barbosa, Bass, and possibly Green…these all should be traded + 2013 pick if needed

get Gortat and Dudley in return.

Of Course Reddick would be very nice – so maybe giving Orlando Terry and Bass or Terry and Wilcox? Either Bass or Wilcox probably should be kept, though I have no special feeling towards either of them or their game.

Lee is playing better than Terry…. I'd get rid of Terry before I touch Lee.

g12

What is with everyone suggesting multiple players for jj? Really? I’m sure one guy like Terry will be enough. Who does orlando think he is? Who do some of you think he is? My goodness! Offer minimal. Nice addition as I suggested weeks ago, but for avery, or jared?! Sounds as ignorant as that bafoon ric bueker(?) Suggesting pierce for gasol numerous times. Please quiet these ridiculous trade notions. You will all be pleasantly suprised at what dan dan pulls off. Jason will be on the way out I suggest.

dslack

Sure, offer minimal. But Orlando won't swap JJ for Terry. So, make the offer, have Orlando say no, and then what? Stick with the team as-is? Or sweeten the pot?

Other posters are skipping the pointless first step of making an offer that Orlando would clearly refuse and discussing whether it's worthwhile to offer the sweeter pot.

Phil725

People are trying to offer multiple guys for Redick because the simple truth to the matter is that the Cs have nothing to offer that Orlando would want. He's not worth giving up Bradley or Sullinger, the next group of guys aren't good enough to get him straight up, and Orlando doesn't want an overpriced collection of mediocre talent (they already got that in the Howard deal anyway.) That leaves something like Lee and a 1st for Redick and hoping that Orlando banks on getting a 1st round pick and taking a worse player over four years over just letting Redick walk.

Of course, they'll probably get some offer better than that, so it's kind of a moot point. I'm sure there are plenty of players the Cs are 'highly interested in trading for'. The fact that they have no assets they'd be willing to give up kind of overrides that interest.

hydrofluoric

Let's be honest – we are more than talented enough. If Jason Terry or Courtney Lee goes to Orlando he'll start lighting it up, and if Reddick comes to Boston, he'll suddenly be unable to hit a shot.

There's something very wrong with our team and it has to do with the way the pieces fit together, not with the talent itself.

elroz

I agree…. when they play well, I dont want any trades…they have enough; when they start stinking it up again and again..I panic …. I'm in a knee-jerk mode now!

How come we never seem to have anything in trade value that we can actually trade? Always seems like the Lakers somehow manage to have pieces to trade to get bigger names. Even though they suck. But that's ust because they have a coach who doesn't know what to do with the team. haha

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